Sunday, August 01, 2010

The series was produced by that stalwart of Kids TV, Yorkshire Television, which made "3-2-1", "Follyfoot" and "The Darling Buds of May", among many many others.

Raggy Dolls was a stalwart of my childhood, even just listening to the theme tune transports me back to a time when I didn't have to cook my own food and bedtime was something I disliked rather than loved.

Indeed, whether you watched it avidly in the years it was shown on terrestrial TV (fairly regularly throughout 1986 - 1994) or not, you would most definitely be aware of it's theme tune. You-tube it and see!

The episodes were written and voiced by Neil Innes, who also wrote and sang the theme song. Yes, Neil Innes from Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and Monty Python fame. He worked with Beatles, on Rutland Weekend Television and also composed the music for some Children's TV classics like Puddle Lane, The Raggy Dolls, The Riddlers and Tumbledown Farm.

They had a moral message that most kids TV had those days. A line from the theme tune is: "Just to be whoever you are is no disgrace". The Raggy Dolls were rejects you see, not like everyday dolls, but special. The ethos of course, making it okay to be different. In these days of Heat Magazine, and celebrity diets, and the constant pressure to look and act a certain way, it might be quite the tonic to watch a few episodes of the Raggy Dolls and reset your psychological balance.

The characters had quite underwhelming names - "Sad Sack", "Back to Front" "Raggy Muffin" and "Claude" (yes - from France). Their adventures were characterized by using their unusual traits being put to good use, to help others and to over come the bad guy (Mr Grimes")!

For more information you can go here and see whether after a day you can get that theme tune out of your head!